BACKGROUND/AIMS: To determine whether early diagnosis is beneficial for functional status of various disease durations in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients. METHODS: A total of 4,540 RA patients were enrolled as part of the Korean Observational Study Network for Arthritis (KORONA). We defined early diagnosis as a lag time between symptom onset and RA diagnosis of ≤ 12 months, whereas patients with a longer lag time comprised the delayed diagnosis group. Demographic characteristics and outcomes were compared between early and delayed diagnosis groups. Logistic regression analyses were performed to identify the impact of early diagnosis on the development of functional disability in RA patients. RESULTS: A total of 2,597 patients (57.2%) were included in the early diagnosis group. The average Health Assessment Questionnaire-Disability Index (HAQ-DI) score was higher in the delayed diagnosis group (0.64 ± 0.63 vs. 0.70 ± 0.66, p < 0.01), and the proportion of patients with no functional disability (HAQ = 0) was higher in the early diagnosis group (22.9% vs. 20.0%, p = 0.02). In multivariable analyses, early diagnosis was independently associated with no functional disability (odds ratio [OR], 1.19; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.01 to 1.40). In a subgroup analysis according to disease duration, early diagnosis was associated with no functional disability in patients with disease duration < 5 years (OR, 1.37; 95% CI, 1.09 to 1.72) but not in patients with longer disease duration (for 5 to 10 years: OR, 1.07; 95% CI, 0.75 to 1.52; for ≥ 10 years: OR, 0.92; 95% CI, 0.65 to 1.28). CONCLUSIONS: Early diagnosis is associated with no functional disability, especially in patients with shorter disease duration.
Arthritis ; Arthritis, Rheumatoid* ; Delayed Diagnosis ; Diagnosis ; Early Diagnosis* ; Humans ; Logistic Models ; Observational Study

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study is to examine the difference between the numbers of patients in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) who are eligible to TNF inhibitors by the past Korean National Health Insurance reimbursement guideline and by the disease activity score with 28-joint assessment (DAS28) based criteria. METHODS: Data were obtained from a multi-center registry for biologics users in Korean RA patients, BIOlogics Pharmacoepidemiologic StudY (BIOPSY). DAS28 was calculated based on either ESR or CRP, and DAS28 of more than 5.1 or between 3.2 and 5.1 with radiographic changes was defined as a cut-off point for the initiation of TNF inhibitors. For the maintenance criteria, we used both of improving in DAS28 score (>1.2) and low disease activity (DAS 28<3.2). Differences between the numbers in each step by two criteria were described with Chi-square test and Kappa agreement. RESULTS: Of the 489 patients in BIOPSY, 299 were included in this study. Among them, 278 patients (93.0%) were eligible of TNF inhibitors when we applied the new initiation criteria with DAS28-ESR, and 244 patients (81.6%) were indicated for TNF inhibitors with DAS28-CRP. For the maintenance criteria, a low disease activity (DAS28<3.2) in 3 months after starting TNF inhibitors is too strict for achieving (33.6% with DAS28-ESR and 50.0% with DAS28-CRP). Instead, decreasing DAS28 by more than 1.2 is more reasonable as a tool for deciding early responsiveness of TNF inhibitors in RA patients (81.2% both with DAS28-ESR and DAS28-CRP). CONCLUSION: Our results show that the candidates for TNF inhibitors will be enormously changed according to a change in the reimbursement criteria. To define appropriate patients to receive TNF inhibitors, a further study with regard to the impact of changes in the reimbursement criteria on the outcomes of RA patients will be required.
Arthritis, Rheumatoid ; Biological Products ; Biopsy ; Humans ; National Health Programs

Primary angiitis of the central nervous system (PACNS) is a poorly understood form of vascular inflammatory disease that is restricted to the brain and spinal cord. A 38-year-old woman presented with severe headache and transient aphasia. Her cerebrospinal fluid exhibited aseptic meningitis, and high-resolution vessel-wall MRI (HRVW-MRI) revealed narrowing of multiple intracranial vessels with concentric wall thickening and diffuse enhancement, suggestive of PACNS. High-dose steroid and azathioprine therapy resulted in a significant improvement in vessel wall thickening, and enhancement was observed on the follow-up HRVW-MRI.
Adult ; Aphasia ; Azathioprine ; Brain ; Central Nervous System* ; Cerebrospinal Fluid ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Headache ; Humans ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging* ; Meningitis, Aseptic ; Spinal Cord ; Vasculitis* ; Vasculitis, Central Nervous System

PURPOSE: Stroke is the second leading cause of death and a major cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Evidence of variations in adiponectin(AdipoQ) genes that are associated with ischemic stroke has not been consistent, and it is unclear whether the same loci contribute to these associations in the Korean population. Using a Korean population, we tested ischemic stroke-associated AdipoQ markers. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In a preliminary genome-wide association study using 320 250 k Affymetrix NSP chips, AdipoQ was found to be associated with ischemic stroke in Koreans. To study of AdipoQ, a further 673 ischemic stroke patients and 267 unrelated individuals without a history of stroke or transient ischemic attack were examined in a case-control study. RESULTS: Six polymorphisms (rs182052G > A, rs16861205G > A, rs822391T > C, rs822396A > G, rs12495941G > T and rs3774261A > G) that had a minor allele frequency of over 1% were strongly associated with stroke (p < 0.05). Two of these, rs822391T > C and rs822396A > G showed this association on both dominant and additive logistic regression analysis after adjusting for age and sex. The haplotypes ht 1 (AGGCGG and AAGTAG) were significantly associated with susceptibility to stroke. CONCLUSION: Our findings show that polymorphisms in AdipoQ are associated with risk for ischemic stroke in the Korean population. This study lends further support to the putative role of AdipoQ in stroke.
Adiponectin/*genetics ; Aged ; Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; Female ; Genetic Predisposition to Disease/genetics ; Haplotypes ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide/genetics ; Stroke/epidemiology/*genetics

Urinary tract infection is one of the causes of acute renal failure. But it has been reported rarely, so we must consider another etiologies before diagnosis. Abdominal ultrasonogram is a good non-invasive technique for radiologic diagnosis or for differential diagnosis, but it's possible that tiny abscesses and small lesions of focal bacterial nephritis might be missed. CT is the best radiologic method to diagnose renal lesion, especially acute bacterial nephritis. Nevertheless, CT has several problems, including contrast-induced nephropathy, exposure to radiation. We experienced a severe form of anuric acute renal failure secondary to acute bacterial nephritis due to E. coli infection. The patient's renal lesion was not visualized on the ultrasonogram and his uremic symptom was severe. So we decided to do a kidney biopsy to find another possible cause of acute renal failure. The renal biopsy finding showed acute bacterial nephritis, and abdominal CT reconfirmed it. His serum creatinine increased to a maximum 8.5 mg/dL, but decreased to 1.24 mg/dL through continuous antibiotic therapy. We emphasize that urinary tract infection is not a rare cause of acute renal failure any more, and that positive diagnositic approaches, including kidney biopsy, are important for accurate and early diagnosis.
Abscess ; Acute Kidney Injury ; Biopsy* ; Creatinine ; Diagnosis ; Diagnosis, Differential ; Early Diagnosis ; Kidney ; Nephritis* ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed ; Ultrasonography ; Urinary Tract Infections

The nephrotic syndrome frequently causes a hypercoagulable state, leading to thromboembolic complications in veins, but arterial thrombosis is relatively rare, and is usually associated with a poor prognosis. We report 50-year-old female patient who presented with minimal change disease complicated with aortic and right iliac arterial thrombosis. She was admitted to our hospital with severe pain in her right leg and left flank. No pulse was palpable in her right femoral artery. Aortography demonstrated a focal eccentric thrombus attached to the left wall of aorta, in which the left renal artery was occluded, and another thrombus obstructing the right common iliac artery. An emergency thrombectomy was performed. Although the patient had satisfactory reperfusion of right common iliac artery, her left renal function was not recovered. A renal biopsy revealed histologic evidence of minimal change of glomerulonephritis. After 8 weeks of steroid therapy, cytoxan was started. After 3 weeks, she developed pneumonitis and died with sepsis.
Adult* ; Aorta ; Aortography ; Arteries* ; Biopsy ; Cyclophosphamide ; Emergencies ; Female ; Femoral Artery ; Glomerulonephritis ; Humans ; Iliac Artery* ; Infarction* ; Leg ; Middle Aged ; Nephrosis, Lipoid* ; Nephrotic Syndrome ; Pneumonia ; Prognosis ; Renal Artery ; Reperfusion ; Sepsis ; Thrombectomy ; Thrombosis* ; Veins

We report a rare case of neuro-Behcet's disease (NBD) presenting as an inflammatory pseudotumor in the brain. A 52-yr-old woman was evaluated for subacute dizziness and headache. Brain magnetic resonance (MR) imaging showed a right cerebellar mass, which disappeared 2 weeks later. After a year, recurrent mucocutaneous manifestations of Beh et's disease were observed. Immunosuppressant and steroid maintenance treatment were started. She experienced two more neurologic attacks and brain MR imaging revealed an enhancing mass in the right temporal lobe. The second attack showed a good response to steroid pulse therapy, but the third attack did not respond to steroid and her neurologic signs suggested an impending transtentorial hernia. The right temporal lobectomy was performed for the purpose of life-saving. The pathologic finding of the mass was a chronic inflammatory vasculitis, compatible with NBD.
Behcet Syndrome/*diagnosis/surgery ; Brain Diseases/*diagnosis/surgery ; Brain Neoplasms/*diagnosis ; Diagnosis, Differential ; Female ; Granuloma, Plasma Cell/*diagnosis/surgery ; Humans ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Middle Aged

Central catheterization for temporary vascular access in hemodialysis patients may cause serious catheter-related infection such as bacteremia, osteomyelitis, and septic shock. We here report a case of unusual complication of catheter-related infection in a hemodialysis patient with internal jugular catheter. A 44-year old man was admitted due to intermittent fever and right chest discomfort. Five weeks ago, right internal jugular catheter was inserted for hemodialysis. Three weeks ago, He stopped hemodialysis treatment and exit site skin care of the catheter by himself. Chest X-ray showed massive right pleural effusion. But the catherter was normally positioned in superior vena cava. Both blood and pleural fluid cultures demonstrated Staphylococcus aureus. After prompt removal of the catheter and drainage of the pleural fluid, and adequate antibiotic treatment, catheter-related bacteremia and pleural effusion improved.
Male ; Humans

Hypoglycemic hemiplegia is an under-recognized manifestation of hypoglycemia and mimics cerebrovascular dis-ease, especially in elderly patients. We report a 70-year-old diabetic woman with hypoglycemic hemiplegia, whose dif-fusion- and perfusion- weighted images showed large cortical high signal intensities and hypoperfusion of the right hemisphere during the period of hypoglycemia. We suggest that the regional cerebral blood redistribution and selective vulnerability in hypoglycemia are responsible for the laterality of neurological deficits observed during hypoglycemic episodes.
Aged ; Female ; Hemiplegia* ; Humans ; Hypoglycemia ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging*

The generally accepted taste pathway in an animal projects ipsilaterally from the solitary nucleus. However, the path-way of gustatory fibers in the human brainstem has not been sufficiently clarified. A 57-year-old hypertensive man was admitted with sudden dizziness and hemiageusia. A neurological examination revealed also a diminution of taste on the left half of his tongue. A MRI showed a high signal intensity in the right lower pontine area. This case suggests that the unilateral lesion of the pons may lead to contralateral taste disturbances.
Ageusia ; Animals ; Brain Stem ; Cerebral Infarction ; Dizziness ; Facial Nerve ; Humans ; Infarction* ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Middle Aged ; Neurologic Examination ; Pons ; Solitary Nucleus ; Tongue